Tampa Palms, is there a catch? (Palm Harbor, Safety Harbor: real estate, rental, HOA fees)

[miz77]

After looking in the Palm Harbor/Safety Harbour area, we are still exploring other areas in Tampa Bay. When looking at the real estate in Tampa Palms, it seems you can purchase a really nice house for around $300k (and less). Is there some reason I should know as to why the houses are so cheap? It seems too good to be true!

Is Tampa Palms a safe, good area for families and are the schools decent?

Thanks!!

[kyle19125]

Safety Harbor and Palm Harbor are both well-established areas that have held their value through quality of homes, good schools and have been fortunate overall with pride of ownership largely minus aggressive HOA oversight. Tampa Palms was a recent build and many homes there have devalued to the point of being severely upside down in terms of their mortgage (much more owed versus current value) due to most being purchased during the height of the housing boom. I would worry about long term investment in Tampa Palms given the possibility so many are upside down that like similar areas across the state upkeep/maintenance of homes becomes an issue, not to mention likelihood of becoming rental property. Lastly as mentioned the HOA is somewhat aggressive, so that may or may not play a role in deciding....Tampa Palms CDD- A Master Planned Community

[miz77]

Thanks for your reply. I actually prefer the location of Safety Harbor area, but I am having a hard time with the houses needing so much updating and being smaller. We also called insurance company and was told it is very hard to get a policy in Safety Harbor and if we did it would be expensive. We decreased what we want to pay for a house (like to not go over $300k) and it did not look like there was much inventory. I am feeling discouraged and looking like we may have to look inland more. We have to be within 30 miles of a major airport, good schools (which is limiting us too) and safe area.

[Pragmaticus]

Wow Tampa Palms and Safety Harbor, you must not have a problem in driving to work. That's one end to the other end. Given the choice I would pick Safety Harbor but as mentioned that area has very small inventory so you would have to wait quite a bit.

My son used to go to Tampa Palms Elementary and is excellent school, no matter how you slice it. In the past I have looked school stats in much more detail (just for fun) based on FDE data across the state and Tampa Palms comes consistently higher in the Bay area. You can search my postings, if you care for the data sources and want to look at yourself, or check the state site.

[Red3311]

Originally Posted by miz77

After looking in the Palm Harbor/Safety Harbour area, we are still exploring other areas in Tampa Bay. When looking at the real estate in Tampa Palms, it seems you can purchase a really nice house for around $300k (and less). Is there some reason I should know as to why the houses are so cheap? It seems too good to be true!

Is Tampa Palms a safe, good area for families and are the schools decent?

Thanks!!

Its a nice area, maybe "out of the way" from the rest of the city but still a nice family oriented neighborhood.

[miz77]

My husband works from home, just needs to be by an airport, I am at home with the kids, so work commute is not an issue, fortunately, so that is why the broad search.

[bentlebee]

We deal with clients in both areas and there is a huge difference and mostly it comes down to personal preference.

The HOA might be higher in Tampa Palms but there are more amenities than in most areas in the other areas where overall lower HOA fees are due to less amenities.

Homes in Palm Harbor and Safety Harbor mostly need new roofs and other improvements which a client has to take in consideration while homes are newer build in Tampa Palms.

On top of that you are dealing with differences in Counties property taxes. You could also consider Seven Oaks or new build in Wesley Chapel with even lower property taxes and close to I-75 to get on your way to the airport and if there is a traffic jam than there are multiple ways to get to the airport.

[miz77]

I know when we visited in Nov, the traffic was awful by Wesley Chapel. We were stuck for a couple of hours at 9/10am. Is this going to be an issue there for a long time? How are the schools at every level? I want a school where bullying is not an issue/schools take it seriously and the kids are not mostly mean/materialistic on top of good education. I will have one in elementary and on going into middle school soon. Thanks.

[Red3311]

Originally Posted by miz77

I know when we visited in Nov, the traffic was awful by Wesley Chapel. We were stuck for a couple of hours at 9/10am. Is this going to be an issue there for a long time? How are the schools at every level? I want a school where bullying is not an issue/schools take it seriously and the kids are not mostly mean/materialistic on top of good education. I will have one in elementary and on going into middle school soon. Thanks.

Yes, traffic is a major issue in the northern USF/New Tampa area as Bruce B Downs is the only way to get out of the area. They are doing contrsution and will be for at least another 5-10 years in the area. If they do ever complete all of the contruction projects, traffic may flow smoothly but will always be an issue during rush hour. Unfotunately, that is just the way they built up the area that causes this. Alot of Tampa is like this due to the sprawl.

As far as the schools, Hillsborough county has been pretty good at curbing bullying. Bullying is a non issue these days as many schools in the area have initiatives to cut out bullying although im sure it happens sometimes. The schools are decent in New Tampa and your child should have no issues. Just make sure they are open with you about what goes on in school.

[miz77]

How does traffic by New Tampa/Wesley Chapel compare to Pinellas county? Thanks for the replies!